Parallel Play: Preschool and K-12 Finance Reform in New Jersey and Texas. Working Paper 07-3

Fuller, Bruce; Wright, Joseph

Policy Analysis for California Education, PACE (NJ1)

Gaps in early learning are starkly apparent among differing children even before they enter kindergarten. So, a rising number of states are trying to narrow initial achievement disparities by expanding access to quality preschool. At the same time, recent findings show that preschool is not a lasting inoculation: its benefits fade if children move from preschool to dreary elementary schools. So, efforts to advance quality preschooling, especially for children from poor and blue-collar families, will be more effective when the quality of public schools climbs in parallel fashion. Two states--New Jersey and Texas--offer laboratories for understanding how preschool and K-12 finance reforms can be interwoven over time and implemented in concert to raise quality at both levels. This study yields three sets of lessons for California and other states: (1) Advancing simple and equitable finance mechanisms; (2) Unifying mixed-markets of preschool providers; and (3) Widening access while improving quality. Overall, this study details how two large states are simplifying funding streams, progressively expanding access, and improving classroom quality. In New Jersey these efforts stem from a specific mandate by the state courts to equalize opportunity, and the preschool sector is a key part. In Texas pro-equity groups have succeeded in widening support for preschool expansion, and these policy efforts are becoming one element in long-running efforts to more adequately fund the schools. (Contains 3 tables, 4 figures, 1 box, and 79 endnotes.)